John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter on the Adjournment and apologise that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment cannot be here to answer directly.

The mid-west task force, which was, as the Deputy has pointed out, established by the Minister under the chairmanship of Mr. Denis Brosnan, completed an interim report which was presented to the Minister on 2 July last. Given the wide range of recommendations included in the report, it is currently being considered by a number of different Departments. The Minister is grateful for the work Mr. Brosnan and the other members of the task force have undertaken to date and she is in ongoing contact with the task force.

The wide range of recommendations in the task force interim report cover both local and national issues. The Government has been responding to the economic downturn generally and has taken numerous initiatives, including competitiveness and employment activation measures and use of the EU globalization fund for individual companies. All of these measures have been of particular benefit to regions affected by job losses, including the mid-west region.

Since the job losses announcement by Dell last January, all of the State development agencies, under the auspices of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, have come together and intensified their efforts and activities to support Dell and other workers being made redundant in the region. The strategy of the IDA is to reposition the mid-west as a centre for knowledge-based industry, while focusing on marketing the Limerick-Shannon gateway area as a key location for investment by building on the strengths already evident in the region. The IDA also co-operates with the existing base of employers to encourage additional investment, particularly in activities such as research and development, customer support and back-office functions. For example, eight projects with a job potential of 1,073 were announced by multinational companies in the mid-west in 2008 and the beginning of 2009.

Shannon Development has intensified its engagement with its Shannon Free Zone clients and, along with the other State development agencies, is actively promoting a range of support measures announced by the Government to assist companies that are experiencing trading difficulties at this time. Enterprise Ireland is also working collaboratively with other State agencies in providing information and support to those facing redundancy. Túsnua was set up in late 2008 to alleviate the impact of pending lay-offs announced by a number of major employers in the Shannon region which were to take effect in early 2009. Túsnua has hosted a number of information events in the region, with more than 1,500 attendees to date.

Enterprise Ireland and the Limerick County Enterprise Board have run a series of workshops in-house at Dell and are in constant contact with the company in order to respond quickly to requests for programmes or meetings with people wishing to start a business. FÁS Employment Services has also engaged on a one to one basis with 900 staff who have exited the Dell facility through redundancy since May 2009. FÁS has provided intensive on-site guidance and information services to the affected workers with the primary aim of securing other employment, training or further education.

In order to meet the substantial additional costs of the measures described above, as well as other costs, my Department has submitted an application to the European Commission under the EU globalisation fund for support in the provision of labour market services to redundant workers from Dell and downstream companies. A decision is expected on this shortly.

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